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PART 1 OF 3 |
Perhaps his greatest success was one of his first ventures in filmmaking: National Lampoon's Animal House. Everyone's image of college life and wild fraternity parties were forever changed after seeing that movie. It remains one of the most hilarious films ever made and is definitely one of our favorites.
We had the opportunity to speak with Landis for the 20th anniversary of the release of his film. Read what John has to say about film now two decades later.
Those supplying selected questions for the John Landis interview will receive a copy of the special edition Animal House video, available Oct. 13 on VHS, widescreen VHS and DVD.
[NOTE: SORRY, AUDIO CLIPS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE UNTIL NEXT WEEK!]
INTERVIEWER:
Can you believe it's been 20
years since Animal House was
released?
JOHN LANDIS:
I think it's shocking for anyone when they realize they're middle aged.
Is there going to be a
big toga party to help celebrate the anniversary?
Phil Roberts
Dayton, Ohio
JOHN LANDIS:
We're actually having a reunion next week and I look forward to it greatly. I'm a high school drop out so getting together with all the cast and stuff really is the closest I ever get to a high school reunion. So, I'm looking forward to it.
INTERVIEWER:
Have you seen any of those guys since
making the movie?
JOHN LANDIS:
I've worked with a lot of the cast over the years. No. About two years ago the Aspen Comedy Film Festival -- the HBO Comedy Film Festival in Aspen, the AFI did an Animal House retrospective. Ivan Reitman and Matty Simmons and most of the cast was there and that was really fun. So I'm looking forward to seeing everybody again.
Animal
House seems to have really stood the test of time -- as
have some of your other movies. Why do you think that is?
James Flynn
Ann Arbor, Michigan
JOHN LANDIS:
Well, it's not just my movies. If a movie works, a movie works. You can look at all the fabulous movies from the '20s, '30s, '40's, '50s and '60s we watch on TV and on tape all the time. And they just re-released Gone With The Wind in theaters. I don't know who said it but it's quite true that for a director making a movie is constant compromise, unless you're [Stanley] Kubrick I guess. For me, it's just like if when it works like Animal House it's just very rewarding and a great pleasure.
Looking back at the movie
after 20 years, is there anything you wish you had done differently
in it?
Sven Carson
Red Bank, New Jersey
JOHN LANDIS:
Oh, I'm sorry I cut me out!When I finished the movie it was 125 minutes or something and I thought, 'Oh that's too long.' And I didn't want to cut anyone out so I had a part as a cafeteria worker who had this running battle with [John Belushi's character] Blutarsky about leftover food. It was very funny. There were like three scenes. So I cut me out. And also there were a couple of scenes in the motel where Otter goes and gets beaten up. But we established Otter's earlier visits to the motel with other coeds and... but I took those out. I regret taking that stuff out now.
INTERVIEWER:
Do you ever think there will be a
director's cut released?
JOHN LANDIS:
No, that stuff no longer exists. But the movie that came out is the director's cut! It wasn't my first cut, that's all.
You dropped out of school
at age 17. Did making a movie about college life seem unusual to you
then?
Calvin Dawson
Richmond, Virginia
JOHN LANDIS:
No, because all my friends went to college. I visited them. Also the fact that it was a period picture. It was set in 1962, and based on [screenwriter] Chris Miller's actual experiences at Dartmouth. He was at the "Animal House" at that school. It was like doing any kind of... I've made films in many countries. To make a Civil War movie, you don't have to live through the Civil War.